1. Field of the Invention
The invention is related generally to the field of communications and, in particular, to communication network architectures.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Mesh network topologies are in wide use today. A mesh network is a network topology in which each node in the network has redundant connections to other nodes in the network. Many individual mesh networking technologies exist today, such as Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) mesh networks, common-carrier mesh networks (e.g., networks provided by DragonWave, Inc.), free space optics (FSO) mesh networks, and others.
Unfortunately, these mesh networks are limited to the particular performance characteristics, capabilities and capacity/range tradeoffs of a single access technology. As a result, these mesh networks are typically adjusted in response to deployment and capacity challenges by either the addition of more mesh nodes or the acceptance of lower performance levels, thus either greatly increasing the cost or the reducing the performance of the network.